KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Tuesday (Oct 25) may include: Ekovest Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, Bright Packaging Industry Bhd, BCM Alliance Bhd and Bursa Malaysia Bhd.
Ekovest Bhd has bagged a RM255.49 million contract from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to undertake improvement and beautification works.
It said its wholly-owned subsidiary EkoRiver Construction Sdn Bhd has received a letter of acceptance from DBKL for two packages.
The first package covers the Sungai Klang vicinity from Jalan Kinabalu to Jalan Maarof, while the second involves the Brickfields area, namely Jalan Scott, Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, Jalan Thambipillay, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, Jalan Vivekananda, Jalan Rozario, Lorong Chan Ah Tong, Jalan Chan Ah Tong and Jalan Tebing.
Ekovest said the job includes the construction of an interceptor system and its related works to improve the quality of the river water, which includes a water treatment system along Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang. The completion period for the work is 130 weeks.
British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT) posted a 17% drop in net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 (3QFY16) to RM212.62 million or 73 sen per share from RM256.1 million or 90 sen per share a year ago, on lower revenue.
Revenue was down 19.6% to RM932.19 million from RM1.16 billion.
Despite weak quarterly results, the cigarette maker declared a third interim dividend of 55 sen per share amounting to RM157.04 million, payable on Nov 24.
For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2016 (9MFY16), net profit was 39.6% lower at RM432.95 million or RM1.153 per share, compared with RM717.18 million or RM2.506 per share a year earlier, as the excise duty-led price increase resulted in the overall volume reduction and escalating cost pressures. Revenue fell 17% to RM2.92 billion from RM3.52 billion in 9MFY15.
Going forward, BAT remains concerned with legal volumes continuing to be impacted by the current rampant illegal cigarette trade as a consequence of the unprecedented excise increase in November 2015 as well as consumer down trading within the legal market.
Ta Ann Holdings Bhd plans to acquire oil palm developer Agrogreen Ventures Sdn Bhd (AVSB) for RM211.1 million to expand its plantation land bank in Sarawak.
It said it has inked conditional share sale agreements with several vendors today to acquire AVSB’s entire stake. AVSB's main assets are its sizable mineral soil land bank of 5,280 ha in Stungkor district in Lundu, Sarawak, of which over 5,090 ha have been planted with oil palms aged one to five years.
Ta Ann said the proposed acquisition is consistent with its plan to expand its oil palm plantation land bank in Sarawak, and that it is a strategic investment, given the scarcity of sizeable, suitable oil palm plantation lands there.
“With over 90% of the lands having been planted with oil palms, the proposed acquisition will contribute to the group’s fresh fruit bunch production and thus, its future earnings.
“The young age profile of the palms in the plantation is expected to contribute growing earnings to Ta Ann, which would increase shareholders’ value," it said.
Ta Ann added that the strategic location of AVSB’s plantation in Sarawak, will enable further expansion in the neighbouring areas.
Bright Packaging Industry Bhd (BPI) has returned to the black for the fourth quarter, thanks to higher savings in material costs and favourable adjustments on deferred tax liability.
The fast-moving consumer goods packaging company posted a net profit of RM1.71 million for the quarter ended Aug 31, 2016 (4QFY16), compared with a loss of RM1.54 million for 4QFY15.
Revenue slipped 7.6% to RM14.4 million, from RM15.6 million, due to a reduction in customers’ order from the tobacco industry. No dividend was paid to its shareholders in the current financial period.
On its prospects, BPI said it foresees a “reasonable performance for the group” for the year ahead. It noted it had on Jan 13, entered into an agreement with Russian multinational tobacco manufacturing company, Zao Philip Morris Izhora, to supply aluminium foil at a total estimated value of US$15 million (RM62.5 million).
BCM Alliance Bhd rose as much as 8.5 sen or 45% during its maiden trade on Bursa Malaysia's ACE market as investors eyed the company's profit growth and dividend.
The laundry and medical equipment distributor's shares rose to their highest at 27.5 sen from the stock's initial public offering price of 19 sen.
At 10:40am, BCM pared gains at 23 sen. The most-active stock on Bursa Malaysia saw some 105 million shares traded.
BCM's net profit increased to RM2.59 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 from RM1.96 million a year earlier. Revenue was higher at RM17.7 million versus RM17.02 million.
The company announced a dividend of 0.4 sen a share for the quarter. The ex-dividend and payment dates fall on this Nov 3 and 21 respectively.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 (3QFY16) fell 14.4% to RM44.04 million or 8.2 sen per share from RM51.47 million or 9.6 sen per share a year earlier as profit from securities market weakened.
According to its unaudited financial statement posted on the exchange, its profit derived from the securities market declined 11.1% to RM64.3 million from RM72.3 million in previous year's corresponding quarter.
Quarterly revenue was down 7.3% to RM119.4 million from RM128.83 million a year ago due to lower revenue recorded in both the securities and derivatives markets. There was no dividend proposed in the current quarter.
Operating expenses increased by 6.5% to RM68.3 million in 9MFY16 mainly due to higher staff cost.
Going forward, Bursa said the securities market performance continues to be influenced by global and local economic and market developments. "Nonetheless, domestic liquidity continues to provide support to the equity market given Malaysia's resilient and strong economic fundamentals," it added.
Derivatives market activities will continue to be influenced by volatility in commodity prices and the FBM KLCI, it said.
It also expects the introduction of Bursa Malaysia-i, the world's first fully integrated Islamic securities exchange platform, to further attract a wider pool of both domestic and foreign investors.